Facing the political fight of his life, Senator Sherrod Brown is looking to position himself as the kind of Democrat Mahoning Valley voters agreed with on trade long before many of them switched parties to vote for Donald Trump. 

On Wednesday, Senator Brown met with steel union workers in Warren to back two bills he's introduced, the Fight Trade Cheats Act and the Leveling the Playing Field 2.0 bill. Both oppose free trade deals that Brown says would hurt Valley workers. 

“Too many presidents from Trump to Clinton to Bush, too many presidents have sold us out on trade deals,” Senator Brown said. 

Senator Brown feels the US can't let other countries import and sell products that undercut American made products - hurting workers and manufactures. 

“For too long people in the valley have seen presidents or lobbyists sell them out and these jobs are shut down,” Senator Brown said. 

Brown has a history of labor support in the valley - something that political analysts say could be tested this year. 

“This isn't him sweeping in and trying to cultivate support with those audiences for the first time. He's made a career out of supporting labor unions and supporting those kinds of issues in the past,” Dr. J. Cherie Strachan, professor and Director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron said. 

For generations, Democratic candidates in the Valley had strong labor support- that's until many switched to Donald Trump when he began using many of the same talking points. 

“Obviously those are important voters to speak to {about} things that affect their jobs, things that affect their take home pay,” Dr. Strachan said. “It's something that certainly needs to be backfilled and reinforced so he's probably making all the right moves.”

A key demographic Senator Brown is hoping to hold onto. 

“My job, always, is to help make sure that workers are represented,” Senator Brown said. “I do that in campaign years, I do that in non campaign years.”